January 2008 Archive

The WGA has announced new interim agreements with The Film Department and Intermedia. The deals are similar to agreements the WGA recently reached with RKO Productions Inc, Lionsgate, Marvel Studios, Yari Film Group, Anonymous Content/Overt Operations, The Weinstein Company, United Artists, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Spyglass Entertainment, MRC, Jackson Bites, Mandate Films, and Worldwide Pants. This is all I can manage to post… Read

Just thought I’d let you know that the crew of New Adventures of Old Christine just got checks of $1,000. The card said: “To Our Old Christine Friends: We miss you and hope we’ll be together soon. Keep the faith. With love from, The Writers, The Actors, The Director.” The Christmas gift was also nice: a Patagonia parka. As an insider told me, “While none of this makes up for the hardship of the strike, I’m proud to be working for a showrunner who shows such… Read

Inbetween sneezing and sniffling and gulping Theraflu, I’ve been told that the WGA-mogul negotiations get a kick-start on Friday when Peter Chernin returns from London and rejoins the talks in person. He’s also cancelled his Super Bowl tickets for Sunday in order to stay in town. I can’t post a lot today because I’m flu-ish. Stay tuned.
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Let me knock down that rumor making the rounds that Jeff Berg is supposedly leaving ICM on April 15th as far as any operating capacity is concerned and will just stay on the board. Sources tell me that not only does Berg have a long-term contract that continues for many years and is focused on the long-term strategy with Chris Silbermann, who manages most of the day-to-day. Berg also just reinvested in the tenpercentery and is now one of its significant owners once again… Read

Start your engines, agents, because this is a prime project to slot in one of your many out-of-work directors. I have no doubt that Universal will find another helmer by the end of the week after Mark Romanek quit Universal’s TheWolfman. That’s right, quit. “He just blew the opportunity of a lifetime, which is mind-boggling,” an insider tells me. The commercial and video director did the well received but small budget One Hour Photo and made the step up to a big… Read

There was a status conference in the Pellicano case this morning. Several things were discussed: disgraced entertainment attorney Terry Christensen’s motion to stay the case or to continue the trial was denied as well as his request to dismiss his indictment. So, as of right now, the trial of the Hollywood private investigator known as The Pelican will start on February 27th as planned. The feds said they expected to take 5 to 6 weeks to present evidence. The feeling is… Read

EXCLUSIVE: I’m told that Terry Semel wants back in the movie biz in a big way. His pals know he’s been working on something big behind the scenes. “I’m looking at everything,” Semel is saying privately. But now I can report that the former Warner Bros co-chairman who failed at Yahoo! is actively considering two possibilities for a Hollywood re-entry via New Line Cinema or MGM. I’ve heard that Semel is seriously kicking the tires at New Line and has already had a confab… Read

SUNDAY AM: I just got off the phone with Harvey Weinstein whose Weinstein Co is co-distributing Rambo with Lionsgate, and he’s remarkably bullish on Sly Stallone’s prospects especially overseas. Harv estimated that Rambo, which took in $18.1 mil from 2,751 theaters its opening weekend, “will end up doing $50 mil here and $100M to $150M foreign. That’s what usually happens since this franchise is really big overseas.” I bet the pic doesn’t even see $45 mil domestic and… Read